so travelling today is still not over. It all started at 4 am italy time. i had to carry an enormous heavy box containing my bike down 4 flights of narrow stairs.
then it was maybe a mile to the station, and i had to keep setting the damn box down because its so big, awkward and heavy!
So at 435 i arrive all sweaty at the beginning of my journey with a train ticket (without a bicycle) to milan centrale. so im already sweaty and illegal.
luckily i found a car right away with a spot to lean the box up against the wall and a seat i could watch it from. it only fell once. that old lady needed to be put out o her misery!
3 hours later i am wrestling this giant bike onto the platform, which is pretty low compared to the height of the train.
i spend 50 feet slugging it along and a nigerian with a cart a tiny tiny cart, comes to my rescue. but in a third world fashion we strap the elephant to the rollerskate and make it work.
im glad he showed up...it was a long way to the cab. the first cabbie couldnt even accomodate my size (haha). so another stepped forward. we then drove about 20 mins to linate milan airport. he talked on the radio the whole time!
i get to my gate with huge box by 830 or so. its a short line to lufthansa with only one ticket person. It takes forever. not until 930 do i talk to someone. my flight is cancelled.
i end up with a new routing onto british airways (BA) and a whole bunch of little slips of paper. this is bad. i hate little slips of paper. these look like some archaic train receipt. something that probably only italians use. they make no sense and have no times.
i go tothe ba line with my pile o stuff. HUGE lines. apparently all of japan was on ba today.
at least i (after another 20-30 mins) got a smokin hot check in girl that spoke english.
finally i get to a gate and a plane. ba is pretty damn good. theyre like how airlines were when i was young. roomy, efficient, attentive service.
but shit is it a long flight. i get from milan to heathrow, which is a huge cattle call of an airport. and i am not used to everyone having english as a first language. so thats my first culture shock.
my second one comes in the usa. we just seem like a bunch of happy hilbillies! our airport looks like a kindercare. its poorly organized. and security. omg! what a bunch of doofuses. "shoes off, liquids out!" blahblahblah...its like kids playing with security toys, only capable of wearing a short haircut.
so the italians didnt really put me in the system for the seattle to pdx leg. so i am using a voucher for food which lufthansa gave me...and didnt tell me about. i just happened to find it in the packet of pieces of paper (the one missing a ticket from sea to pdx!). and i am gettig on the 840pm to pdx...funny thing is my bike made it on the flight! Ahhh!!!
Sent from my old, slow but jailbroken iPhone
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